This photo shows the signboard outside the Korea Football Association House in Seoul, Jan. 8. Yonhap

The national football body said Thursday its request to the national watchdog to run its president election has been rejected.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said it was thus informed by the regional office of the National Election Commission (NEC) in the Seoul district of Jongno, where the KFA's headquarters are based.

The Jongno election commission cited its prior commitments, as it's overseeing the nationwide elections for regional directors of the MG Community Credit Cooperatives on March 5.

The election body also told the KFA that, under laws on running elections on behalf of outside organizations, it would "not be feasible" for the regional NEC office to oversee the entire KFA election process at this stage.

The KFA's election had been scheduled to take place on Jan. 8, but it was postponed on the eve of that, when the Seoul Central District Court granted an injunction filed by Huh Jung-moo, one of three candidates, to halt the election.

Huh, former men's national team head coach, had claimed that the KFA's election management committee had members with apparent bias in favor of his rival candidate, Chung Mong-gyu, who is pursuing his fourth term.

Shin Moon-sun, former player and television analyst, is the third candidate in the race.

When the KFA announced last Thursday that the election would be held on Jan. 23 instead, both Huh and Shin rejected the reschedule because they had never agreed to it.

Then last Friday, all eight members of the KFA's election committee resigned, forcing the football body to postpone the election indefinitely.

All three candidates had agreed that the NEC should take over the process to ensure impartiality and transparency, with the KFA insisting it would still need its own election committee to handle internal matters.

The KFA plans to put together a new election committee by the end of this month, with hopes of resuming preparations for the election in early February. (Yonhap)